Ever since Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out, and it became clear that the project was less of a beat-for-beat remake and more of a reimagining/ pseudo-sequel, there’s been one question on everyone’s mind, about a particularly important moment from the original: will they dress up Red XIII in a Shinra uniform still? Sorry, what’s that – the big thing everyone was wondering about was whether Aerith would die or not? Yeah, sure, I guess I was wondering that too.
Alright, fine, jokes aside, this was obviously the thing I was most curious about too (outside of just seeing how the rest of the game would be realised with modern day capabilities). Of course I wanted to know! Aerith’s death is the Darth Vader of video game spoilers, everyone knows about it just through cultural osmosis, even if they haven’t even seen a lick of gameplay.
The original scene is easily still one of the most impactful in gaming, primarily because it’s so shocking. Aerith is positioned as this all-important figure, someone who could lead humanity towards paradise, and as the last of her people, the Cetra, there’s no one left to carry on their culture. It’s an upsetting moment, and has stuck with so many players for almost 30 years, so of course with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth making it clear that the game would end at the scene where she dies originally, she kind of became a Schrödinger’s cat situation – both alive and dead until proven otherwise.
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